Country roads, take me home

[latersgators]

Who: Steven Grant and open - start your own subthreads and stuff
What: Studio Ghibli movie night
Where: Cabin 135
When: early December
Warnings: none so far

After subjecting Marc and Maeve to Ghibli nights, Steven has widened his circle of suffering to include a few other people. What was going to be 'come over and watch My Neighbour Totoro?' became a proper whole evening at Steven and Marc's cabin. They spent the afternoon tidying up the room, returning a bunch of library books and keeping the rest of his stash in a corner on the other side of the bed. Clean laundry put away, a small load of dirty clothes taken down to the wash. The ankle cuff and bungee cord is stashed away in the cupboard alongside their small emergency hoard of water, snacks and food in case they have to lock themselves in their cabin one day for weeks on end. Bathroom tidied up as well, with extra toilet paper stacked on top of the cistern in anticipation of several guests.

The cabin is still small in spite of their cleanup efforts, and Steven insists on having some snacks available, so for savoury options there's baby carrots and celery sticks with hummus dip, potato skins, kumara fries and cassava chips, and mango sticky rice and pan fried cinnamon bananas for something sweet. It's not exactly going to be the healthiest night in terms of food, but half a dozen people sitting knee to knee in a claustrophobic little cabin crying at children's anime is surely going to make up for that and be healthy for all of them.

The programme for the night is Steven's Studio Ghibli box set, although he only has one DVD player and one television so they need to pick their movies wisely since they'll only be able to watch two or three. They're always welcome to come back next time to watch more. Steven's recommending more Kiki's Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke, and less Grave of the Fireflies and When Marnie Was There. They don't really want to be crying into their bowl of vegan snacks every 15 minutes...

Comments

[latersgators]

That is precisely Steven's problem. He can't get Marc to talk to him about a bunch of things. Maybe Maeve will have better luck with that? Maybe it's easier to talk to somebody who doesn't live in your head, whom you feel compelled to protect all the time. But Steven is doubtful.

"Yes alright. I could tell you about all our holidays," Steven agrees with fervent nods. When he thinks no one is looking, he smiles and tries to reach over to give her hand a light squeeze. "Looking forward to it."

[millay]

Maeve will figure it out if she has to drag it out of him. She'd prefer he gave it up on his own terms, though.

It's cute how excited he is about it, how willing to be open and vulnerable. She squeezes his hand in return. "I'm looking forward to it, too." A beat. "And I want you to know that you can always talk to me about anything you want to. I'll be here no matter how small or insignificant you think the thought is."

[latersgators]

By that same token, he too is sometimes reluctant to share some things with Marc, on account of them being together all the time, living and breathing in the same space. Not nearly to the degree that Marc is with him, but it's good to have someone like Maeve to talk to, especially when she wouldn't ridicule or belittle him.

"I will. I promise." If anything, he'd be the one oversharing and Marc would just not share anything meaningful at all, almost like one's overcompensating for the other.

[millay]

"Okay, good." Maeve hasn't kept too much from anyone, but she does try not to discuss everything. She can play every death out in her mind over and over in explicit detail, but no one needs to know about them. She's really only shared with one or two people about having killed her own kind, but it was part of staying alive. Still she hopes, in time, that both the boys will feel comfortable to share more of their lives at home.